‘When you take on the family, you lose’: Morning Joe explains why Bannon is spiraling down the drain

Saturday Night Live’s satire might not be far off. The children of President Donald Trump are reportedly not a fan of Steve Bannon and his antics.

A recent report from Vanity Fair outlined the falls from grace amid Trump’s former inner-circle. First was Ret. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign. Then Kellyanne Conway, “who was effectively sidelined.” Now Bannon is having his fall from grace.

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“I’m not sure Steve does a lot of actual work,” one source in Trump’s circle said not long before Bannon was removed from his position on the National Security Council.

Bannon had reportedly threatened to quit if he was removed and the decision “was almost like they were calling his bluff,” someone familiar with the matter told Vanity Fair. Apparently, Kushner and Bannon got along well during the campaign but Bannon felt betrayed by Kushner and retaliated with a plot to ensure negative stories of Kushner were published.

“She was especially incensed by articles she believed were planted by Mr. Bannon’s allies suggesting he, not her father, honed the populist economic message that helped sweep the Midwest,” The Times revealed. “She made that point in the strongest terms to her father, who agreed, according to a family friend.”

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough cautioned Bannon that anytime someone takes on the family in the White House they’ll lose, saying that there is no real internal battle as a result. The family will always win.

“That’s kind of like who is going to win the battle tonight between my 8-year-old son and Joe where they’re trying to figure out what time the 8-year-old son is going to bed,” Scarborough said, comparing Bannon to an 8-year-old child. “‘You can write as many articles as you want to write about that, I’m just not going to lose. I win that.’ No, I’m just saying. I’m going win that battle.”

Scarborough went on to say that Bannon could pick up the phone and call Corey Lewandowski and ask how it all ends. He agreed that it has likely “hastened [Bannon’s] own demise.”

“He started to attack three to four weeks ago, Jared Kushner out of left field and the second people started calling me from inside the White House and it was a lot of people, I said ‘What do you think is up,'” Scarborough said. “I think he’s stupid. That’s what is up. He’s going to lose. This is obvious stuff.”

New York Times reporter Frank Bruni argued, “people who are smart in certain vectors can be really dumb on other vectors.” He said Bannon was “doomed before them” because of a cardinal rule of Washington, D.C. and human nature, in general, is that you “never eclipse the person whom you are supposed to be serving.” Bannon did that with his TIME profile that ended with the internet and Saturday Night Live mocking Trump for letting “President Bannon” run things.

Watch their full discussion below:

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